The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1887-06-04
LITTLE LION TANNERS.

AhO Olu Aaonldu lcScuu ttllS HOW
Romulus and Remus, who built Rome,
were nursed by wolf when they were
babies. That might do very well in
legend-particularly as those babies
were supposed to have no mother to
care for them; but in real life most
mothers would as soon think of throw
ing their babies into the river as of Civ
ing them to wild beasts. And yet it has
more than once happened that wild
beasts which would have been danger
GUS to grown persons were perfectly
safe companions for very little children.
In the celebrated Geological Gardens
at Antwerp there is little baby boy,
scarcely able to walk yet, who is per-
mitted to go in among the lions, tigers
and leopards, and play with them as if
they were only ordinary pussy cats.
He has not the slightest fear of them,
but pulls their tails and ears, and pokes
his little fingers in their eyes, as babies
will do, and they never do any worse
than move out of his way.
1t is said to be very pretty sight to see
that fair skinned, big blue-eyed baby
comfortably seated by the side of a
huge tiger, his little dimpled hand per-
haps pulling the tawny striped coat of
the monster. Itmay indeed be pretty
sight, but it must need strong nerves to
enable one to look at it with any
pleasure, for most persons it will seam
hardly possible that the fierce creature
will not turn at any moment and tear
the innocent little baby to pieces.
The little fellow, however, has no
more fear of any of the savage beasts
in the menagerie than you would have
of a,lap-dog; for he was born right there,
and has been among the animals all
his short life. Long before he could
walk he was carried to the cages, and
allowed to pat the tamest of the
animals, and before very long they
began to show such signs of pleasure
at his coming that in time they
became fast friends, and the keep
ers had no hesitation in putting the
baby in the cage with the trained
leopards, and afterwards with the lions
and tigers.
The leopards were trusted first be-
cause they are usually the mildest-tem-
pered and most affectionate of the wild
animals. Instances are known of Loop
ards rescuing their keepers from other
animals in the menagerie, and very
pretty story is told of one case when
through the instrumentality Of cage
of leopards a man and his baby girl
were saved from the attack of a jaguar,
one of the most untamable of animals.
The man travelled with the menag-
erie and its attached circus as a GYM
mast in the summer, but when the ami
mails went into winter quarters he was
retained as a keeper, and lived with his
family in little cottage near by.
Scarcely day passed that he did not
take his baby daughter to see the ami
mails. and they, according to their Gus
tom, grew so fond of her that at her
coming most of them would make some
sign Of pleasure. Only one, sullen
brute of a jaguar, refused to make
friends. and always fiattened down his
ears and snarled when she was taken
before his cage. With the leopards. on
the other hand, she was particularly
friendly, and they liked nothing better
than having her put her tiny hand
through the bars to pat and stroke
them.
The thought of putting her in the
cage with even the leopards had never
occurred to him, however, and probably
it never would have had not the jaguar
forced it into his mind very suddenly
one day.
He had been cleaning the cages, and
the process being an unpleasant one to
the jaguar, that ferocious beast was in
such very ugly mood that the man
thought it best not to anger him any
more by holding the baby before his
cage. Consequently, he hurried past
the cross animal, and thereby failed to
notice that the cage fastening was 80
slipped that the door might easily be
opened.
/ He had reached the leopards, and
was holding the baby SO that she could
reach through the bars, when he heard
light thud behind him. and looking
around, saw to his horror that the
jaguar had escaped, and with blazing
eyes, slow-waving tail, and crouched
body, was stealthily moving toward
him.
His first feeling wasa sickening fear
but he quickly recovered, and with the
marvellous rapidity the mind is capable
of in emergencies, sought for means Of
escape. he knew he could not escape
bv either door, for the 1.-THE, active ami